Faithful Deaf Negro Servant

I found the article in Silent Worker, vol. 26 no. 9, June 1914, p.172. The story about former deaf slave saved the white family (were they white?) from the burning house and also saved some of their valuable things, he died. It is kind of hard for me to read the story so I try my best to type what the article said.

James Good, 52 years old a deaf and dumb negro servant, who had been in the service of the Goodfellow family of St. Louis all his life, sacrificed his life in an effort to save heirloom from the flames in a fire which destroyed the Goodfellow mansion and stables at Wentzville, Mo., last Sunday.

Jim, as he was known, discovered the fire which started from a (defective line?) at S A M and unable to cry out an alarm, ran to the rooms occupied by Mrs. George Wise, her son, Frank Foster, and Mrs. Mamie Walker, and aroused them by pounding on the doors. They escaped in their night clothing, having no time to try to save anything.

Jim started back into the house to save some valuable treasures, and returning, was buried under the burning stairway, which collapsed. He was taken to the St. Louis City hospital on a special train and died at 2 0′clock Monday morning. He was buried last Tuesday in the Goodfellow vault in Bellfontaine. He formerly was a slave belonging to the Goodfellow family. -Lexingtonian (sp?)

Leroy Colombo, Galveston’s best-known lifeguard

LeRoy Colombo (December 23, 1905—July 12, 1974) of Galveston, Texas, was a champion long-distance and endurance swimmer and lifeguard. He is credited with saving 907 lives, a feat formerly listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Stories about his incredible feats in rescuing victims of disasters, both on sea and land, became part of local lore. Was Colombo treated like a hero? Hardly. A grateful dog owner gave him $25 for rescuing her poodle from drowning; an elderly woman gave him $30 for retrieving her false teeth from the surf. What about gratitude for rescuing humans? Well, a father gave him two cans of beer for rescuing his two daughters from drowning. After seeing Colombo rescue a newsboy, bystanders took up a collection, totaling $1.00. Nothing stopped him, though. After being forced to retire at age 62 because of a heart condition, he continued to swim every day, practically until the day of his death, always on the alert for anyone who needed rescuing—grateful or not.

There’s also the tale of a 10-mile race along the Mississippi River. Colombo was reported to have dislocated a shoulder at the 8-mile mark, and he had to finish the race with one arm. He didn’t win, but then again, neither did another competitor, Johnny Weismuller, a five-time Olympic medalist who went on to fame in the “Tarzan” movies. [Read the article about Museum to honor Galveston lifeguard]

Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, who surfed with Colombo as a child living in Galveston during the 1930s, also will be honored at the museum as one of the state’s first surfers. Paskowitz went on to surf all over the world. He took second place in the 1941 Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships. He also earned a medical degree, established surf schools and wrote a book, among other accomplishments.

The spot is appropriate because Colombo patrolled beaches in the area while he was working as a lifeguard for the city of Galveston, said Donald Mize, who requested the street naming. [Read the article about Street renamed after legendary lifeguard]

The Rosenberg Library exhibited a championship trophy won by LeRoy Colombo in 1927.

The Noon Optimist Club and the city of Galveston erected a plaque
in Colombo’s honor not long after his death in 1974.

A timeline history of LeRoy Colombo:

-1912 At the age of seven, LeRoy Columbo suffered an attack of spinal meningitis which cost him his hearing and the use of both legs. He tried swimming (and his three brothers worked with him) and within a year he was able to walk again.

-He eventually became the first deaf lifeguard as well as earning the title “the World’s Greatest Lifeguard.” He saved 907 lives in a 40 year career, a record noted in the Guinness Book of World Records.

-In 1923 he became the first deaf person to join Galveston’s elite “Surf Toboggan Club.” He qualified by swimming continuously for three hours with no stops or floating. And in 1923 he became a lifeguard for the city of Galveston.

-He was among the first to ride surfboards at Galveston beaches.

-In 1927, Colombo completed a 15-mile swim in the Gulf of Mexico in just 11-and-a-half hours.

-In 1928 he rescued two crewmen after a tugboat exploded in flames (this required swimming beneath burning oil).

-LeRoy made his first rescue (of a drowning boy) at the age of 12.

-LeRoy almost drowned 16 times during rescues.

-He became a competitive swimmer at Texas School for the Deaf, setting multiple records for speed and distance.

-He retired at 62 and continued to swim in the ocean daily until he died on July 12, 1974. Flags in Texas were flown at half staff upon his death and a plaque erected on the Galveston beach he patrolled for forty years.

-The Noon Optimist Club and the city of Galveston erected a plaque in Colombo’s honor not long after his death in 1974.

- In 2005, the legendary Galveston lifeguard will be the subject of a display in a surf museum to open in Corpus Christi.

-The beach patrol’s annual fund-raiser, a 5K run, bears Colombo’s name.

-In 2006, the Texas School for the Deaf unveiled a new swimming center, which was named for Colombo.

-In May 2008, the Rosenberg Library will exhibit a championship trophy won by LeRoy Colombo in 1927.

-The street will be referred to as Leroy Colombo’s View and 57th Street on signs.

Timeline of New Zealand Sign Language

TIMELINE OF NEW ZEALAND SIGN LANGUAGE

340 BC Socrates is reported to have said to his students, “If we could not speak, we would talk with our hands, head and other parts of the body, like deaf people”.

Early AD Early Christian church in the UK allows sign language to be used in weddings.

c. 700 The Venerable Bede, an English cleric, wrote about curing the deaf and making them speak. There were also examples of hand alphabets and counting systems.

C 5th-15th Various works of medieval writers and artists portrayed deaf people and gestural communication in their works.

C 13th-14th Artists had incorporated one-handed fingerspelling into portraits of historical figures, e.g. portraits of Chaucer.

1500-1700 Deaf people working in the Turkish Ottoman court used sign language that was regularly used by hearing people including the Sultans to express their ideas at whatever complexity.

1550s King Philip II of Spain had a deaf court painter, named Juan Fernandez Lavarrete , who was known as ‘El Mudo’. He could sign, read and write. Also he used an interpreter.

1660s-1800s Sign language was evolved in European nations, especially in the schools for the deaf. Some schools used a “combined method” of speech and signs/fingerspelling.

There were many Deaf schools in Europe, America and Australia that used sign language, and had Deaf teachers and principals.

1868-1879 Miss Dorcas Mitchell, a teacher of the deaf who taught in London, was employed to teach the children of Rev. R. R. Bradley who had nine children. Eight of the nine were deaf. By 1878 she had 42 pupils and no government assistance

Miss Dorcas worked hard lobbying the government to set up a school for deaf children in New Zealand. When a deaf school was eventually approved she applied for the job as director. She was, however, turned down in favour of Gerrit van Asch and soon after this, she left for Australia and nothing is known about her after this time.

1880 Attitudes towards sign language were negative – many thought it was an inferior form of communication and that all intelligent Deaf children would master the oral system.

The Sumner School for the Deaf near Christchurch, opens. Gerrit van Asch a German expert in oral education, is chosen as director and he used the oralist method. Interestingly, some deaf children brought home signs, and then school signs develop that progress into NZSL in the hostels and playground.

At the 2nd International Congress of Educators of the Deaf in Milan, Italy, attended by hearing teachers from all over the world, a most critical decision for deaf education was made. Almost the entire congress was devoted to oral methods of teaching – 9 people voted in favour of oralism and against signs, and three voted in favour of signs.

From that point, many Deaf teachers disappeared from the classrooms and sign language was banned in many schools for the deaf.

1890 The 4th International Congress on the Education and Welfare of the Deaf was held in Paris, which wase attended by 200+ Deaf people and at least 200 hearing people. The hearing organisers refused to allow Deaf delegates to join their congress. Both groups met separately after the joint opening ceremony. A request from the Deaf for a joint final meeting was also denied. The result ended was that a resolution in support of the combined system received only 7 votes in the hearing section despite unanimous support by the Deaf section.

1880s-1920s Some Deaf children from NZ were sent to signing schools in Melbourne and later returned to NZ and passed the signs on to other Deaf children in NZ. The signs used in Melbourne were British Sign Language (BSL) that later became Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN).

In Deaf schools where oralism was used, Deaf staff were employed as cleaners, cooks and gardeners, etc. They passed signs on to the Deaf children who learnt from them. Thus signs were passed from one generation to another.

1942 Titirangi School for Deaf opens. The children who boarded at Titirangi developed different signs to those at Sumner School. This was the beginning of regional variations in NZ Sign Language.

1944 St Dominic’s School for the Deaf opens, signing was strictly forbidden but it was known that some Deaf nuns who worked in the school as domestic helpers passed on some Irish signs. The signs used at St Dominic’s are also different from other schools for Deaf in NZ.

1960s The biggest milestone for sign language was William Stokoe, a hearing professor at Galluadet College (now Gallaudet University, the world’s only university for the Deaf) who did linguistic research on American Sign Language (ASL), was the first academic hearing person to say that sign language is a human language.

1970s The Total Communication (Signed English) philosophy starts in the USA, when teachers found that Deaf children of Deaf parents learnt faster that those who used the oral method.

Total Communication (TC) is an approach to deaf education that aims to make use of a number of modes of communication such as signs, oral, auditory, written and visual aids.

Total Communication (TC) method was adopted quickly in UK and Australia.

Jim Moody, an American psychologist in NZ, challenges the oral education system and supports parents to start using TC in Deaf Education in NZ.

A committee was set up by New Zealand and Australian Teachers of the Deaf and Deaf representatives to develop Australasian Signed English system, based on Australian (Victorian School for Deaf) signs.

1972 Peter Ballingall, a teacher of the Deaf at Kelston, researched the signs used by Deaf children, which is now known as NZ Sign Language. He found 600 signs and said that it is a natural language. Unfortunately, many of the teachers of the Deaf did not accept his research because they expressed a negative attitude towards natural sign language used by the Deaf.

1979 Total Communication (TC) and Australasian Signed English were officially used for teaching Deaf children in NZ especially for those who are failing through oral methods.

1980s TC classes were taught in schools and Hearing Associations where Deaf and hearing people attended to learn the Australasian Signed English signs. There was some confusion about ‘new signs’ (TC) and ‘old signs’ (NZSL) within the Deaf Community.

TC was supposed to be a middle ground in age-old disputes between oralism and natural sign language. But it failed dismally because it was a signed system constructed by hearing people with signs for each word in the English language. It did not follow the natural grammar rules of NZSL

Marianne Collins-Ahlgren of Victoria University of Wellington begins research on NZSL to prove that it is a true language of the Deaf people in NZ.

Bilingual education starts overseas in Sweden and USA. Research on bilingual education has shown that Deaf children acquire language and learning better through using natural sign language.

Bilingual-bicultural or BiBi educational programs focus on making the classroom bilingual via a means of natural native sign language which is used to support learning a written spoken language.

1983: NZ Association of the Deaf (NZAD) was persuaded by the President at the time (who happened to be hearing) to accept Signed English as the official sign language – in the belief that anything else would prevent Deaf children from having any kind of access to manual communication.

1985 First Sign Language Interpreters course sets up in Auckland with the support of Deaf Association, Sir Roy McKenzie and what was then the Social Welfare Dept. NZSL is taught on this course where many Deaf people were involved. Importantly, it is the beginning of Deaf awareness and pride in using NZSL.

1986 Dan Levitt’s book on Introduction to New Zealand Sign Language is published. This led to many Deaf people to name language used as “NZSL” instead of “old sign”.

1988: NZAD puts this right – NZSL is the language of Deaf

1989 Marianne Collins-Ahlgren’s thesis on NZSL is completed and her work showed the full details of the linguistics of NZSL.

World Games for the Deaf were held in Christchurch where many Deaf people from around the world were communicating in sign languages that led the Deaf Community in NZ to open up and show their pride in using NZSL.

1990s More NZSL classes are being taught by Deaf people into their communities all over the country.

The project on developing a dictionary of NZSL began at Victoria University of Wellington.

1992 Diploma in Sign Language Interpreting course starts at AIT (now Auckland University of Technology). It is taught by a team of Deaf and hearing lecturers. This leads to more interest from the public in learning NZSL for a career.

1993 NZ Sign Language Tutors Association is established.

1995 Bilingual and bicultural (NZSL and English) class starts at Kelston Deaf Education Centre with a Deaf teacher and a Deaf Language Assistant that paved the way for Bi-Bi philosophy within the school. This was an historical moment – after more than 100 years NZSL is now recognised in a school for the Deaf in NZ.

Deaf Festival at Kelston Deaf Education Centre celebrates NZ Sign Language and Deaf culture.

1997 Bilingual classes start at Van Asch Deaf Education Centre. Deaf Studies curriculum was being developed there.

Victoria University of Wellington has set up a course for Deaf NZSL teachers, in which graduates can get a Certificate in Deaf Studies: Teaching NZSL. This is the first university course that recognises NZSL.

The Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language is published, containing 4000 signs and this leads to significant increase in public awareness of NZSL.

Late 1990s NZSL Storytelling competitions, debates, Deaf Culture panels and Deaf drama are developed.

2004 NZSL Bill goes to parliament and passes the first reading.

2006 On April 6 the Third Reading of the NZSL BIll was passed 119-2 in Parliament. This was a most historical moment for the Deaf Community. After being oppressed in education and wider society for over a hundred years, and competing with other inferior systems such as oralism and Signed English (TC), NZSL is now finally recognised as a part of NZ’s Culture.

References:

Timeline compiled with the assistance of Janine Mac Pherson

Moving Hands: Celebrating Years of Deaf Education, Van Asch Deaf Education Centre (2005)

Breda Carty (2005), Renwick College, Sydney. Deaf History Workshop 18 – 22 April 2005.

Miles, M. (2000). Signing in the Seraglio: mutes, dwarfs, and jestures at the Ottoman Court 1500-1700. Disability & Society, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 115-134.

(from http://www.nzsign.co.nz/Timeline.aspx )

Deaf Football Player Invented the American Football Huddle

By Bug

About 100 million Americans will watch Super Bowl XLIII today. How many of them know the history of American football huddle? Who invented the huddle? About 85 percent of people don’t know that Deaf player at Gallaudet University invented the American football huddle in 1894.

Who invented it? How did the football huddle start? Paul Hubbard the quarterback player at Gallaudet University realized that his sign language (hand signal) could be read by opposing players so he had to pull his players into a circle so that his sign language could be shown without anyone on the sidelines or on the opposing team seeing.

Many years before the first huddle, many Deaf football players used sign language to signal to each other as they played until Paul Huddbard got fed up of the other team watching and guessing their plays so he invented the huddle. Then they exchanged the secrets through sign language inside the huddle.

Today every footbal team uses this type of huddle as it is still in common use today, typically between plays in American football as the quarterback assigns the next play to the offense.

Here’s an interesting story about the football at Gallaudet Unviersity:

http://www.fredbowen.com/c100600.htm

Also, see old Gallaudet photos of Deaf football team:

http://archives.gallaudet.edu/Football.htm

See What I’m Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary

Deaf people can do anything but hear. But an all deaf rock band? An international deaf comic famous around the world but unknown to hearing people? A modern day Buster Keaton who teaches at Juilliard but is currently homeless? A hard of hearing singer who is considered “not deaf enough?” 

SEE WHAT I’M SAYING follows the journeys of four extraordinary deaf entertainers over the course of a single year as their stories intertwine and culminate in some of the most important events of their lives……(read more, click: http://www.seewhatimsayingmovie.com/ )

Jean Stewart of Scotland, Countess of Morton, was Deaf

King James I and Queen Joan Beaufort of Scotland’s daughter Princess Jean a.k.a Joan (1428 – 1486) was also known as “the dumb lady of Dalkeith” was born deaf and in public used sign talk even though in that era it was seemed to be improper. She was married to the 4th Lord Dalkeith and Earl of Morton, James Douglas in 1457. Betrothed at age 13 to her cousin, James Douglas, third Earl of Angus, in an arranged marriage, but he died before the wedding. Sent to France in 1445 for education at a nunnery. In 1457, she married to James Douglas, 4th Lord Dalkeith and 1st Earl of Morton, she became the Countess of Morton. She had four children; Janet, Elizabeth, James and John Douglas, 2nd Earl of Morton. Buried with her husband in the Morton Monument tomb at St. Nicolas Buccleauch Parish Church, Dalkeith, near Edinburgh. Her simulacrum on the Morton Monument tomb2 is presumed the world’s oldest representation of a deaf person as sculpture. [Sources from RoyaList Online and wikipedia.org]

Baghchehban, first teacher of deaf in Iran

Iran-Baghchehban-Commemoration

November 24 marks the 42nd death anniversary of the ‘father of Persian sign language’ and founder of the first kindergarten for the deaf in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan province.

Jabbar Askarzadeh, known as Jabbar Baghchehban, was among the industrious devotees of Iranian culture. He began teaching in Marand, East Azarbaijan province, in 1911.

He introduced audio-visual teaching method to Iranian education system and wrote several books on teaching the deaf as well as improvise a number of devices to aid their learning.

Baghchehban, who was born in 1884, is considered the first publisher of children books in Iran.

He set up the first kindergarten for the deaf in Tabriz and named it ‘Children Garden’. For this reason he became known as ‘Baghchehban’ or gardener.

Following the suspension of the kindergarten in Tabriz, he pursued his job in Shiraz for six years. He created a new method for teaching Persian alphabet, which was unique and innovative.

He died on November 25, 1966 at the age of 82 in Tehran.

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0811234589181055.html

(note from Fookem and Bug…….see a picture of Iranian Deaf Education Teacher and related story at http://www.payvand.com/news/07/nov/1248.html )

John McCain was a chair of the Gallaudet University board of trustees

By Bug

John McCain is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republician candidate in the 2000 and 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. He used to be a chair of the Gallaudet University board of trustees.

In November 2006 McCain stepped down from the board because he disagreed with the decision to end the appointment of incoming Gallaudet President Jane K Fernandes. He was unhappy with Gallaudet protests. He felt that decision to terminate her appointment was unfair and not in the best interests of Gallaudet University.

Jane K Fernandes was an unpopluar provost. They say that she does not appreciate the primacy of American Sign Language at Gallaudet and in deaf culture and that she lacks leadership qualities. One Gallaudet student said that Dr. Fernandes did not say hello when she ran into students on campus.

“I cannot in good conscience continue to serve the board after its decision to terminate her appointment, which I believe was unfair and not in the best interests of the University,” McCain wrote to outgoing President I. King Jordan.

McCain did not give much explainations why he resigned as a chair of the board of trustees.  If he did, maybe he would get more votes and supports from the Deaf Americans. Many Deaf Gallaudet students feels that John McCain was not loyal to Gallaudet for some reasons. He rarely attended to the meetings. They feel that McCain did not care about what was going on at Gallaudet when there were some issues. He made a choice by not having the opportunity to hear the issues surrounding the protest.

Did he really care about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans? Many people did not know that John McCain was a strong advocate of telecommunication legislation benefitting Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. He introduced the Telecommunications Accessibility Enhancement Act of 1988 and also he was a chief co-sponsor of the T.V. Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990. The federal law requires most new T.V. sets to have built-in decorder circuitry capable of receiving closed captioned programming.  McCain was also a chief co-sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

John McCain failed to capture enough votes to win to be U.S. President. The next U.S. President will be Barack Obama.

Good news is that Obama knows basic American Sign Language.

CORRECTION: John McCain was a Gallaudet University’s board of trustees not as a chair. Brenda Jo Brueggemann was Board Chair. Good news is that Obama knows a couple American Sign Language signs.

Self-Taught Deaf Artist Spoke Volumes Through Art

Shown is ‘Wheelbarrow’ by self-taught artist James Castle at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. Castle, subject of a new exhibit organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was born profoundly deaf and never learned to read, write, sign or speak. But he spoke volumes through art, which he created ceaselessly from early childhood until his death in 1977 at age 77.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Work by self-taught artist James Castle hangs on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. Castle, subject of a new exhibit organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was born profoundly deaf and never learned to read, write, sign or speak. But he spoke volumes through art, which he created ceaselessly from early childhood until his death in 1977 at age 77.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Shown is ‘Girl in red coat and boater hat,’ left, and ‘Girl in red coat and brown hat’ by self-taught artist James Castle at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. Castle, subject of a new exhibit organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was born profoundly deaf and never learned to read, write, sign or speak. But he spoke volumes through art, which he created ceaselessly from early childhood until his death in 1977 at age 77.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//081020/480/6a3d15a24b8b44f5b48d0183252b8ae3/

17th-century Deaf Dutch painter

Ice Landscape
Oil on canvas
Staatliches Museum, Schwerin

Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634), one of the first Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century, was deaf and mute and known as de Stomme van Kampen (“the mute of Kampen”). He is especially noted for his winter landscapes of his homeland. His landscapes are characterized by high horizons, bright clear colors, and tree branches darkly drawn against the snow or the sky. His paintings are lively and descriptive, with evidence of solid drawing skills that made him an ideal recorder of his contemporary life.

His drawings were very popular in his time, and he sold many of them (enhanced with watercolors). His landscapes have a narrative quality, telling the tale of a crowd of people walking, skating, tobogganing, golfing, selling soup, making tea – each busy with a slightly different occupation. Currently there is an outstanding collection of his drawings at Windsor Castle in the possession of Queen Elizabeth II.

Paintings in Museums and Public Art Galleries:

The Guide to Great Art on the Internet: Artcyclopedia

World Classic Gallery (7 different paintings)

1st-art-gallery – Hendrick Avercamp oil paintings

The biography of Hendrick Avercamp